Category: Fr. Jom Baring, CSsR

February 15, 2026 – Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021526.cfm)

What keeps you going? What makes you wake up every morning? Your answers will surely vary. For some, it is their family. For others, it is their children’s future, their work, their dreams, or simply the hope that tomorrow will be better than today.

And yet, if we listen carefully to the stories of many, we also hear fatigue. Many are tired of stretching a small income to meet rising prices. Many are anxious about job security, about the future, about the kind of country their children will inherit. Some continue to work hard even when appreciation is little. Others carry silent battles. We have family problems, loneliness, disappointment, or the fear that their efforts may not be enough.

In the midst of these realities, a deeper question slowly emerges in the heart. What truly gives meaning to my life? What really brings life to me?

This Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time invites us to reflect that indeed, life becomes full and meaningful when we freely choose God and choose love. And through these daily choices, we allow ourselves to choose life and become a light for others. Now, let us discern our readings.

The first reading from the Book of Sirach speaks with clarity and honesty. It tells us that God has placed before us a choice like fire and water, life and death, good and evil. And the important thing is this, God does not force us. God respects our freedom. Hence, the commandments of God are not chains that limit our happiness. The laws are guides that lead us to the fullness of life.

Sometimes, we may think that God’s commandments restrict us. And so we could feel that following what is right is difficult, and that honesty is costly, that integrity slows us down in a competitive world. However, Sirach reminds us that every choice we make shapes our life and the lives of others. When we choose selfishness, dishonesty, anger, or indifference, relationships break and trust weakens. But when we choose truth, compassion, fairness, and responsibility, life becomes deeper and more meaningful.

Sirach also speaks about the “fear of the Lord.” This is not fear of punishment. It is the fear of losing what truly matters. This is the fear of being separated from God’s grace, from love, and from the fullness of life that only God can give.

Moreover, Saint Paul continues this reflection in the second reading. He tells the Corinthians that the wisdom of God is different from the wisdom of the world. The world measures success through wealth, influence, power, and recognition. But the wisdom of God is revealed in Christ. This is manifested in a life of humility, service, sacrifice, and love.

Paul reminds us that this wisdom is revealed through the Spirit. When we allow God to guide our decisions, our work, our relationships, our plans, then, our lives begin to reflect a different kind of strength. The question is no longer, What will benefit me the most? but rather, What is right? What gives life? What serves others?

This brings us to the Gospel.

Jesus says, “I have come not to abolish the law but to fulfill it.” For many religious leaders of His time, the law had become a set of rules to follow externally. Religion had become compliance without conversion. But Jesus brings the law back to its heart. The law is not about legal perfection. It is rather about relationship with God and with one another.

When the heart is missing, then, religion becomes routine. One can pray, attend Mass, and observe traditions, and yet still live without compassion, honesty, integrity or mercy. Jesus reminds us now that the fulfillment of God’s law is love lived in concrete ways.

Now, in our present social situation, our country does not lack intelligent people. We have many talented, skilled, and capable individuals. But what our society urgently needs are people of conscience. People who will remain honest even when corruption is common. People who will choose fairness even when shortcuts are easier. People who will show compassion in a culture that is becoming easily harsh and judgmental.

This means that the crisis of our time is not only economic or political. It is also moral and relational. This is how we realize that trust is fragile and our words easily wound. And so, indifference has become normal. This is why the Lord’s invitation today is urgent: Choose life. Choose what builds. Choose what heals.

Because every time we choose truth over convenience, we give life. Every time we choose kindness over anger, we too give life. Every time we choose integrity over personal gain, we become witnesses to the wisdom of God.

The question we must bring home today is this: What truly motivates my life?

If what drives us is approval, success, comfort, or comparison, we will always feel anxious and never be satisfied. But if what moves us is our relationship with God and our desire to bring life to others, even simple and ordinary days will feel meaningful.

Choosing God is not one big decision made once in a lifetime. It is a daily choice made in our small moments, silent struggles, and ordinary situations.

So let me leave you with two simple and concrete takeaways:

First: Each day, before making an important decision, pause and ask yourself: Will this choice give life to me and to others? Choose what builds and not what harms.

Second: Do one silent act of goodness by helping someone, listening patiently, forgiving, or choosing honesty even when no one is watching. These small choices shape our becoming as a reflection of the light.

Thus, when we choose God, we too choose life.  And through our simple but faithful choices, we do not only live well, we too help others live as well. Hinaut pa.

January 25, 2026 – Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012526.cfm)

I once took a taxi from the airport on my way home. Like many taxi rides, it started quietly. Then the driver began to talk not about traffic, not about politics, but about God. He spoke with conviction and warmth. In fact, he felt compelled to share his faith story in order to preach the Gospel and bring more people into baptism.

He was not a Catholic, but became a Born Again Christian. And so I asked him what led him into becoming a Born Again. He said, “Father, I encountered the Lord when my wife was dying of cancer.” He shared how, during those long days in the hospital, a group of Born Again Christians would visit, pray with them, and simply stay. In that dark season, he said, something changed in him. He felt seen. He felt accompanied. He felt light entering a very heavy moment of his life. That encounter changed him so deeply that he could not keep it to himself. Now, he shares his faith with almost everyone who rides his taxi.

That very experience bring me now into the invitations being revealed to us on this Third Sunday in Ordinary Time. And so, allow me to bring you all into our readings again and realize God’s gentle invitations and reminders for us.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus begins His public ministry by proclaiming a simple message: “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Then He walks by the sea and says to fishermen, “Come after me.” And immediately, they follow Him. We often wonder: why so fast? Why leave everything behind?

The first reading from Isaiah gives us a clue. The prophet speaks of people who were walking in darkness and have seen a great light. Israel had lived under oppression, fear, and uncertainty. Hope had been delayed for a long time. When Matthew describes Jesus beginning His ministry in Galilee, he is telling us that this is the light Isaiah promised. Jesus is not just offering teachings, He is offering a new way of seeing life and a new way of living life.

That is the single theme that runs through all the readings that people follow Jesus because they have seen light in Him. This is the light that gives meaning, direction, and hope.

Simon, Andrew, James, and John did not follow an idea. They followed a person who made sense of their longing. Before mission came encounter. Before discipleship came experience. They saw something in Jesus that answered a deep hunger within them.

St. Paul, in the second reading, reminded the Corinthians, and us today, that this light must not be divided or owned. “Is Christ divided?” he asked. The light of Christ is not for competition, labels, or pride. It is for unity and witness.

Now let us bring this closer to our daily life. Many people today are walking in darkness, though they may look fine on the outside.

And darkness can be quiet. This can be exhaustion from work, anxiety about the future, family conflicts, sickness, loneliness, or the feeling that faith has become routine and dry. And so, we light candles, attend Mass, say prayers, but sometimes we wonder if we still feel the presence of God.

That taxi driver was honest. He said that before his wife got sick, he was Catholic but did not feel God’s presence. It was in suffering, and in the kindness of people who stayed with him, that he experienced God. That moment became his light.

This is where we Catholics must examine ourselves. We are often faithful in rituals, but can be very hesitant in sharing our personal experience of God. We hesitate out of shyness, fear of judgment, or the idea that faith-sharing is only for priests or “church people.”

In reality, even our Catholic students in MSU-Marawi can sometimes be annoyed or afraid when our Born Again sisters and brothers would ask them, “Do you have 5 minutes?”[1] We find ourselves so weak in speaking and sharing our God-experience and knowledge of the Church to the point that we can be easily swayed.

However, let us remember that the Gospel reminds us that to follow Jesus is not only to believe silently. We are demanded to witness through our actions, and through words when needed.

Hence, being Christian is not also limited to Sunday Mass, memorized prayers, or lighting candles. Being Christian means following Jesus where we are – at  home, at work, online, in public transport, or in our ordinary conversations. Remember, the fishermen followed Jesus not by becoming perfect, but by trusting the light they had seen.

This tells us that the world does not need more arguments about religion. It needs people who have seen light and are willing to reflect it. People who can say, like that taxi driver, “I was lost, and God met me here.”

Jesus continues to say today, “Come, follow me.” He says it to parents, soldiers and policemen, workers, students, the elderly, and the tired. He says it not to burden us, but to invite us into a life that is brighter and more meaningful.

And so, I leave you now two takeaways for you further reflection this week.

First, remember one moment when God brought light into your life, especially during a difficult time. Thank Him for it this week.

Second, share that experience with one person, not as a sermon, but as a story. Be honest, simple, and real. Hinaut pa.

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[1] It was their way of starting conversation among Christian students in a predominantly Muslim Community of MSU-Marawi. This is also the beginning of their proselytization.